BARRY/Wales: Two-year ASBO for town yob

Two-year ASBO for town yob

A 20-YEAR-OLD Barry man has been banned from shops and businesses across the town after a reign of terror saw him threaten and abuse staff.

Sean Collier also carried offensive weapons, attempted to damage property, and threw food at workers.

Now Collier, of Lakin Drive, has been issued with a two-year ASBO, banning him from harassing traders and shoppers in the town.

Appearing at Barry Magistrates' Court, Collier was also convicted of assaulting a police officer - for which he received a 12 month suspended prison sentence.

The Chairman of Barry's award-winning crime prevention scheme PACT (Preventing Antisocial Crime Together) is delighted with the court's action in banning Collier from the premises of all PACT members.

Dave Sharpe said: "Sean Collier getting his ASBO is the best possible news for PACT.

"A considerable amount of hard work goes on behind the scenes to obtain this form of order.

"For PACT members, filling in their referral forms builds up a pattern of behaviour.

"This is a fantastic result and I wish to thank the Vale of Glamorgan Anti-Social Behaviour Unit for all their hard work."

PACT works at reducing business-related crime by keeping tabs on known criminals.

Using a radio network, retailers work with CCTV operators to monitor anti-social behaviour in the town - creating a database of photographs and offenders names.

Collier is the second person to be given an ASBO after prolific shoplifter Kyle Butts was issued with one in May, after being identified by PACT members.

Like Collier, under the terms of the order Butts was banned for two years from entering any PACT shop or commercial premises.

If Collier breaches the conditions of the order, he will be committing a criminal offence, which could bring the maximum penalty of five years imprisonment, a £5,000 fine - or both.

By working with police many of the scheme's 53 members - including ABP, Boots, Tesco, and New Look - acknowledge PACT has dramatically reduced crime in Barry.

PC John Jones, Anti-Social Behaviour Co-ordinator for the Vale Police, said: "It shows that where businesses collaborate to reduce crime and anti social behaviour, it also benefits the wider community by making business premises safer for staff and customers."

**Anyone interested in joining Business PACT should contact PCSO Rhiannon Harris on 07970736885 or Dave Sharpe on 07886074231.

Under the terms of the order, Collier is not permitted to: * Enter any shop or commercial premises as listed in the PACT Business against crime exclusion notice made against the defendant.

* Enter any part of Tesco store, Stirling Road, Barry as outlined by the red dash line (see map).

* Do or say anything that causes or is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to any person or encouraging or assisting others to do so in the Vale of Glamorgan.

If anyone is aware of Sean Collier breaching his ASBO please contact Vale Police on 029 20222111 or Crime Stoppers on 0800 555111.

http://www.barryanddistrictnews.co.uk/news/latestnews/display.var.1718381.0.twoyear_asbo_for_town_yob.php

CHESHUNT/Essex: BMX menace in shop rampage

BMX menace in shop rampage

A YOB who caused mayhem by riding a BMX bike into bottles of drink on display in a Cheshunt shop has posted a video of the incident on the internet.

In the video, posted on film-makers' website www.youtube.com, he is seen outside the One Stop Shop in Cadmore Lane at night being egged-on by friends, urging him to "do it, do it now!". The boy then rides his BMX through the shop door and rides unsteadily before smashing into some neatly displayed bottles, and falling off the bicycle.

A startled shopkeeper then goes over to investigate the commotion and stands over the boy as he picks up the bottles.

But the incident was news to shop manager Gina Brydon. She told The Herald : "I don't know about this, as no one has told me and I don't work at night.

Riding around in the store

"We did used to have a problem a few years ago, with kids hanging around outside the chip shop nearby.

http://www.herald24.co.uk/content/herald/news/story.aspx?brand=EHHOnline&category=NewsEastHerts&tBrand=herts24&tCategory=newsehhnew&itemid=WEED27%20Sep%202007%2016%3A14%3A36%3A293

PLYMPTON: RESIDENTS IN ANTI-YOB VIGIL

RESIDENTS IN ANTI-YOB VIGIL

Frustrated residents are to mount a night-time vigil to deter rowdy yobs who wreck a children's play park.Householders in Plympton are so fed up that they hope to discourage the beer-swilling teenagers from congregating, fighting in the street and leaving piles of broken glass around the play equipment.

Four or five men and women who live in Litchaton Way in Woodford say they will try and deter the youths by sitting in the park at night - unless the police can stop the youngsters' bad behaviour.

One mother whose daughter uses the play park said: "It is very frustrating but if the authorities cannot deal with the problem then we are prepared to do something about it.

"I would readily be prepared to do it."

But police today said that the plan was 'almost vigilantism' and urged residents to work with the force.

Householders said that up to 20 youths aged from around 11 to 20 gathered in the park most weekends and through the week during the school summer holidays. They claim they stay into the park until the early hours of the morning.

They complained of noise, bad language and fighting in the street.

The final straw came on Friday night when yobs left the park between the methodist church and junior school strewn with broken glass from smashed beer bottles.

One resident cleared up the glass herself, filling half a bin bag with glass.

Former police officer, Ian Markus, 63, who came up with the idea, said: "The neighbours have had enough. They are constantly calling the police. It seems to be a constant occurrence, every Friday or Saturday.

"I had the idea in the heat of the moment, but several of the neighbours are prepared to do it.

"We cannot stop the youngsters coming into the park but we might be able to stop them drinking and getting rowdy if we are standing there.

"We are not vigilantes. We are not out for any trouble and don't want any confrontations. We just want them to stop."

The mother, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisals, added: "The police came two or three times in the summer and took away the alcohol but the yobs just come back another day."

Sgt Dave Gordon, responsible for Plympton, said he was aware of problems of rowdiness and under-age drinking in the play area, but said it was no worse than several other parks.

He added: "It is a park and that is where kids congregate but we take a fairly robust approach and we confiscate alcohol where we find underage drinking and move them on. I really would not want them in there. It is almost vigilantism.

"We could possibly work with the residents and support them with some sort of operation in the play area."

Sgt Gordon said he would send a patrol to the park over the weekend if other incidents allowed.

http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=133464&command=displayContent&sourceNode=133158&contentPK=18473563&folderPk=78031&pNodeId=133174

SCOTLAND: Minor attacks fuel huge rise in levels of violent crime

Minor attacks fuel huge rise in levels of violent crime

VIOLENT crime in Scotland has increased by more than a third in two years, figures revealed yesterday.

Minor assaults accounted for the bulk of the increase - unlike in England and Wales where the level of violent crime has remained constant.

The trend was disclosed in the Scottish Crime and Victimisation Survey, which polls 5,000 people every three years to gauge the extent of crime experienced by the public rather than that recorded by police.

Based on these interviews, the survey found the number of crimes committed from April 2005 to March 2006 was 13 per cent higher than in the previous survey, due to the increase in minor assaults which went up by 35 per cent from 2003-04.

This equated to 655 minor assaults per 100,000 adults in 2005-06.
But housebreaking and theft from cars had fallen.
Most people interviewed reported house-breaking to the police but almost two in three failed to report minor assaults, backing up warnings from police in The Scotsman earlier this week that much violent crime goes unreported.
Detective Chief Superintendent John Carnochan, head of the Violence Reduction Unit, said a huge volume of violent crime remained hidden from view, making statistics "meaningless". He urged people to "take responsibility" in tackling high crime rates.
Some 45 per cent of respondents who were attacked said the perpetrator was under the influence of alcohol, although
for minor assaults more than two-thirds of attackers were believed to be drunk.

David McKenna, chief executive of Victim Support Scotland, said he was "disappointed and worried" by the figures.
He called for more support for victims of crime when they come forward.

Kenny MacAskill, the justice secretary, said: "These figures provide further evidence of the scale of the challenge we have inherited.
"The public's clear concerns with alcohol, drugs and crime back my belief that we need to be tough on crime and even tougher on the causes of crime.
"If we are serious about building safer, stronger, communities for the long term, we must address the social factors that contribute to crime - chiefly drink, drugs and deprivation."
The findings suggest just over one million crimes took place in Scotland during the survey period - more than the year before, but down on 2002 levels.
Twenty-two per cent of those questioned had been the victim of at least one crime, but this did not represent a "significant" change on the previous year.

Crimes against property accounted for 56 per cent of all offences, with the remaining 44 per cent being crimes against the person.
The risk of being a victim of household crime rose slightly, but was lower than in 2002.

"However, the risk of being a victim of personal crime is at its highest since the survey began - 7 per cent - mainly due to a rise in the rate of minor assaults," said the survey compilers.

Those most at risk of crime were men and women in their late teens or early 20s, while the over-60s were said to be the least at risk.

http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1549582007#new

YORK: Graffiti yobs ‘defacing city’

Graffiti yobs ‘defacing city'

NEW facilities installed in and around York are already being spoiled by vandals, according to a city councillor.
Coun John Galvin is angry that a new utility substation box near the pedestrian crossing outside York College has already been defaced and graffiti has been scrawled on new passenger timetable boxes at bus stops in the neighbouring village of Bishopthorpe.

Coun Galvin said: "Graffiti like this on newly-installed facilities is just sheer vandalism.
"It is appalling that facilities outside York College, a new £60 million building that has only been there for a couple of months, is being abused. The building is a showcase and it is on one of the prime routes into the city centre near the racecourse and there for all to see.
"At the moment there is only a little, but once it starts more is bound to follow.
He said it was absolutely soul destroying to see that there is also more graffiti of this kind taking place in nearby Bishopthorpe.

Coun Galvin said: "City of York Council and the bus company have worked hard to put in place a programme to refresh the bus stops and passenger timetable boxes in Bishopthorpe.
"How sad it is that now our efforts to improve the look of the area are being thwarted at every turn by this mindless vandalism.

"To the vandals doing this I would say how would you like it if I scrawled some graffiti on something that you valued like your car or bike? It is terrible to think what the state of their lives must be in to have to resort to something like this.
Paul Guilfoyle, York College's head of central learner services, said: "The substation is accessed by the utilities company and York College and we believe the graffiti has been there since before the students started at the beginning of term.
"We are working with learners to enforce an acceptable code of conduct and to date we have not experienced any graffiti problems on the new college site."

http://www.thisisyork.co.uk/display.var.1714465.0.graffiti_yobs_defacing_city.php

SURREY: Ambulance under siege from yobs

Ambulance under siege from yobs

YOBS surrounded an ambulance and forced paramedics to call the police as they tried to treat an injured teenager.
Hooligans shouted insults and pounded on the side of the vehicle, forcing medics to stay inside and call for assistance.

Joseph Head, 15, broke his arm at the new skate park in Southgate at about 9pm on Saturday September 15.

Joseph's mother, Councillor Marcella Head, who represents Broadfield South, said: "When the paramedics arrived a group of at least 10 yobs attacked the ambulance. My son and the crew had to stay inside for fear of the youths.
"I work as a security guard, so when I turned up in my uniform the yobs thought I was a police officer and ran away.

According to Councillor Head the police arrived less than a minute after she did, but she says the offenders had fled by then.
She added: "I can't do anything but praise the ambulance service.Their staff shouldn't have to be calling the police."
Bill Chilcott, security manager for South East Coast Ambulance Service, said: "Ambulance clinicians were hindered by a group of youths as they attempted to help a teenage boy. As a result, they felt it necessary to call the police.
"This incident shows we will not tolerate such behaviour and will not hesitate to call upon the assistance of the police if required."

http://icsurreyonline.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200surreyheadlines/tm_headline=ambulance-under-siege-from-yobs&method=full&objectid=19850297&siteid=50101-name_page.html

ILMINSTER: Crackdown on carnival yobs

Crackdown on carnival yobs

SPECTATORS will be shut out of the Minster Churchyard on Silver Street for this year's Ilminster Carnival to stop a repeat of trouble seen last year.

Ilminster police will be closing the grounds and patrolling the area after problems last year, which included beer cans and lit cigarettes being thrown into the crowd, youths urinating on gravestones and a large amount of alcohol-related litter being left behind.
The churchyard will now be closed before and throughout the procession.

Sgt Andy Lloyd from the Ilminster Safer Stronger Neighbourhood Team said: "This response, which forms part of Operation STARC (Somerset Tackling Alcohol Related Disorder), is a direct result of the excellent partnership work taking place between the carnival committee, St Mary's Church and also the town council."

Those tempted to enter the grounds are being warned of new rules which allow police to disperse individuals or groups from an area for up to 48 hours in order to minimise the likelihood of alcohol-related crime or disorder.

Sgt Lloyd told the News: "We all want the carnival to be a peaceful and enjoyable evening for all concerned where families and people of all ages feel safe and confident to come into town and admire all the hard work that has taken place in the lead up to this year's procession.
"By temporarily closing the churchyard I am confident we will be able to make a positive contribution to the atmosphere and enjoyment on the night for all those wishing to view the procession from Silver Street."

Carnival spokesman Jeremy Mitchell said the committee was confident there would not be a repeat of last year's trouble. We will co-operate and will help the police in whatever way we can.
"We will provide assistance with our trained marshals who will be patrolling the area with police."

THE Ilminster Carnival procession will NOT be affected by damage to the Market House and the widening of pavements in East Street, carnival committee spokesman Jeremy Mitchell said this week.

There have been suggestions floats may struggle to make their way through the town centre but Mr Mitchell said the committee was confident there would be no problems.
He said: "The scaffolding on the Market Square has been checked and it's okay. The route is not going to change."
http://www.chardandilminsternews.co.uk/news/ciilminsternews/display.var.1714538.0.crackdown_on_carnival_yobs.php